Linear plain bearings and e-chain® for automated sample preparation in the laboratory

• What was needed: Miniature plain bearing drylin® N, linear plain bearing drylin® T, toothed belt axis drylin® ZLWcantileveraxis drylin®-GRW-0630, plastic-energy chain
• Requirements: Lubrication-free to prevent contamination of the samples, maintenance-free, chemical resistance, precision when moving the samples in the workspace
• Industry: Medical technology, Laboratory equipment
• Success for the customer: Efficient and user-friendly clean-up processes can be carried out thanks to the precise movement of the sample slides and the flexible and safe guidance of the media in the work area.

The company AIS Bad Düben is dedicated to the cross-industry automation of otherwise cumbersome, manually performed work steps. For this project, a CleanUp vending machine was to be developed, which is used for automated sample preparation in trace analysis.
The laboratory machine should be able to use the same glassware and chemicals as a comparable manual device. In addition to the trade show, the focus was on flexibility: the user must be able to use other glass vessels, for example, by making process-related changes.
The automation expert then developed the CUA 14 laboratory vending machine (CleanUp vending machine with 14 superstructures), which can be perfectly integrated into an existing laboratory infrastructure. Up to 14 samples with different processes are processed independently and simultaneously in the workspace of the vending machine. Up to 14 laboratory vessels can be positioned automatically on up to 3 vertical levels.
An axis gantry was developed for this purpose, which can operate the maximum working range of the base frame in three dimensions. However, the sample slide process required suitable linear guides that are resistant to chemicals and completely lubrication-free so as not to contaminate samples. In addition, cable routing was provided for the axle portal, which can safely supply the system with energy, data or nitrogen, for example, in a confined installation space.

The drylin® N-low-profile guide system and drylin® T-rail guides are used to move the sample slides on the various axes. As the mechanical fixing of the positions of the individual slides is done magnetically, neodymium magnets are incorporated into the linear guide. 
The sliding surfaces in the linear rails are made of the material iglidur®, which runs completely smoothly and lubrication-free and does not require maintenance. Contamination of the samples is therefore also excluded. A high level of accuracy in the application was also achieved with the systems.

The portal stroke of the vending machine is ensured by drylin® ZLW toothed belt axes, which also work with linear plain films made of iglidur® and are therefore particularly suitable for the sterile environment.

In addition, plastic-energy chains were installed to guide the various media from the media canopy to the dosing heads, for example. The flexible cable routing ensures that the dosing heads can each dose up to three different solvents at any position in the axis portal in a freely selectable quantity and speed.